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WalterFootball.com has learned from sources that the Jacksonville Jaguars are expected to make changes after this season. General manager Gene Smith is likely to be fired, with possibly other additions and subtractions in the front office. However, the coaching staff under head coach Mike Mularkey is highly likely to return in 2013. These moves would come as no surprise, as there have been many reports of Smith's future dismissal as the Jaguars have continued to struggle on the field.

Jacksonville brought in its new coaching staff last offseason, and all of the coaches received multi-year contracts. It isn't appealing to owner Shahid Khan to fire this staff and then have to pay two coaching staffs for a few seasons. He understands that the current group inherited one of the worst rosters in the NFL. Sources have said that Khan has a good relationship with the coaching staff and knows that the coaches deserve more time to turn around the Jaguars considering the state of the team when they arrived.

Jacksonville's new coaches have improved the play of second-year quarterback Blaine Gabbert, but the team has really made strides after going to veteran Chad Henne as its quarterback. With Henne under center, the Jaguars took the Texans to overtime in a losing effort on the road before beating the Titans last Sunday.

Jacksonville's roster has progressively decreased in talent and ability to compete under Smith's direction. Smith started out with the Jaguars as an area scout and moved up the ladder to become their executive director of college and pro personnel before becoming the general manager in 2009. Many of his draft picks haven't worked out; Gabbert being the most glaring. The team traded up from the 16th-overall pick to the 10th spot to select Gabbert - just one choice before the Texans snagged J.J. Watt. Smith sacrificed a second-round pick in order to make the deal for the bust quarterback.

Other early-round picks have disappointed like defensive tackle Tyson Alualu and guard Will Rackley. Smith also used a third-round pick on punter Bryan Anger last April just a few picks before Seattle selected quarterback Russell Wilson.

Smith has had some misses in free agency too. He signed veteran Laurent Robinson to a big contract last March, and the new wideout was a bitter disappointment before ending the season on injured reserve. Smith also signed Mike Thomas to a big contract extension, and he never lived up to the deal before being given away to Detroit before the trade deadline. The offensive line has been a weakness all year and was neglected in free agency.

The Jaguars are 2-9 and playing improved football without Gabbert in the lineup, and Smith was a driving force to keep Gabbert on the field in hopes that he would play well enough to save Smith's job. Jacksonville clearly needs to make massive roster changes to become a postseason contender again, and Smith is unlikely to be in charge of those decisions. Sources believe that he will be at the center of the team's offseason changes that won't include a new coaching staff.

_________________
I hate the Jaguars

Last edited by Jaguarfan on Fri Nov 30, 2012 12:36 am; edited 1 time in total

WalterFootball.com has learned from sources that the Jacksonville Jaguars are expected to make changes after this season. General manager Gene Smith is likely to be fired, with possibly other additions and subtractions in the front office. However, the coaching staff under head coach Mike Mularkey is highly likely to return in 2013. These moves would come as no surprise, as there have been many reports of Smith's future dismissal as the Jaguars have continued to struggle on the field.

Jacksonville brought in its new coaching staff last offseason, and all of the coaches received multi-year contracts. It isn't appealing to owner Shahid Khan to fire this staff and then have to pay two coaching staffs for a few seasons. He understands that the current group inherited one of the worst rosters in the NFL. Sources have said that Khan has a good relationship with the coaching staff and knows that the coaches deserve more time to turn around the Jaguars considering the state of the team when they arrived.

Jacksonville's new coaches have improved the play of second-year quarterback Blaine Gabbert, but the team has really made strides after going to veteran Chad Henne as its quarterback. With Henne under center, the Jaguars took the Texans to overtime in a losing effort on the road before beating the Titans last Sunday.

Jacksonville's roster has progressively decreased in talent and ability to compete under Smith's direction. Smith started out with the Jaguars as an area scout and moved up the ladder to become their executive director of college and pro personnel before becoming the general manager in 2009. Many of his draft picks haven't worked out; Gabbert being the most glaring. The team traded up from the 16th-overall pick to the 10th spot to select Gabbert - just one choice before the Texans snagged J.J. Watt. Smith sacrificed a second-round pick in order to make the deal for the bust quarterback.

Other early-round picks have disappointed like defensive tackle Tyson Alualu and guard Will Rackley. Smith also used a third-round pick on punter Bryan Anger last April just a few picks before Seattle selected quarterback Russell Wilson.

Smith has had some misses in free agency too. He signed veteran Laurent Robinson to a big contract last March, and the new wideout was a bitter disappointment before ending the season on injured reserve. Smith also signed Mike Thomas to a big contract extension, and he never lived up to the deal before being given away to Detroit before the trade deadline. The offensive line has been a weakness all year and was neglected in free agency.

The Jaguars are 2-9 and playing improved football without Gabbert in the lineup, and Smith was a driving force to keep Gabbert on the field in hopes that he would play well enough to save Smith's job. Jacksonville clearly needs to make massive roster changes to become a postseason contender again, and Smith is unlikely to be in charge of those decisions. Sources believe that he will be at the center of the team's offseason changes that won't include a new coaching staff.

The bold phrases show how this is speculation and/or them just connecting dots. Seriously, I could have written this at any point this season and said it is breaking news._________________
Thank you daboyle250 for the sig.

It's probably no more legitimate than the speculation that goes on here every day. But i wouldn't be upset if that's the direction this thing goes.

Yep.

If the team finishes strong though and gets to 5-11 or 6-10, there's still a good chance Gene sticks around. Not saying he should or shouldn't, but it's entirely possible.

Essentially, it ends up looking like Gene made a mistake with Gabbert and that the team was incapable of playing well without him. It then looks as though it took Mularkey needed time for the talent here to mesh under his new scheme, fighting against a bad QB and the loss of a superstar running back/several "supposed to be" starters on the o-line. Because of all of that and the emergence of Shorts/Blackmon/Henne, it could be looked at as though the end of the year is when our team's talent finally makes the breakout we had been expecting. This, especially if the defense plays well down the stretch. If that's how the situation gets viewed internally (not saying it should or shouldn't), can you really fire Gene for missing on a QB when he brought in another QB who emerged and could be "the guy" and the roster appears to finally be turning the corner?

That said, if the team stumbles and bumbles their way through the rest of the year and picks up only one win and gets blown out by the Pats, I'm not sure there's any way that Gene stays._________________
Live like you're down 3-1

What GMs have missed at QB in their first 4 years and continued to remain the GM of the team? What GM has had a top 10 pick 5 years in a row and remained GM? I'm not sure on the answer, but I'm gonna guess that it's not a lot. I don't think Gene deserves to be the GM of this team no matter what happens in the remaining 5 games of the season. The team has gotten worse every year he's been the GM and he's the main person to blame. I think the Peter Principle could be in affect here, but I'm not sure._________________
Thank you daboyle250 for the sig.

What GMs have missed at QB in their first 4 years and continued to remain the GM of the team?

Not many, but that's largely because team success is almost entirely predicated on having a quality QB. When you're rebuilding a team and miss on the QB, you dont have enough pieces in place to make up that hole. It's incredibly rare for a team to draft a QB, not have him work out and for a backup that the same GM brought in be successful.

Quote:

What GM has had a top 10 pick 5 years in a row and remained GM?

Unfair question. One of those years was through no fault of his own (the first), and one was a trade up.

Quote:

The team has gotten worse every year he's been the GM and he's the main person to blame.

Well this isn't exactly true. He took over a 5-11 team, and the next year they went 7-9, then 8-8 and was a win away from winning the division. Then came the QB change and we went 5-11, and now we sit at 2-9. Did the team get worse or did the QB position get worse? If we rattle off a bunch of wins and finish 5-11 or 6-10, it would be be really hard not to pin the lack of success on the QB position, which would then, in turn, possibly look like it had a worthy player at now.

I'm not saying he should, but rather if it played out like that, he could._________________
Live like you're down 3-1

What GMs have missed at QB in their first 4 years and continued to remain the GM of the team?

Not many, but that's largely because team success is almost entirely predicated on having a quality QB. When you're rebuilding a team and miss on the QB, you dont have enough pieces in place to make up that hole. It's incredibly rare for a team to draft a QB, not have him work out and for a backup that the same GM brought in be successful.

Quote:

What GM has had a top 10 pick 5 years in a row and remained GM?

Unfair question. One of those years was through no fault of his own (the first), and one was a trade up.

Quote:

The team has gotten worse every year he's been the GM and he's the main person to blame.

Well this isn't exactly true. He took over a 5-11 team, and the next year they went 7-9, then 8-8 and was a win away from winning the division. Then came the QB change and we went 5-11, and now we sit at 2-9. Did the team get worse or did the QB position get worse? If we rattle off a bunch of wins and finish 5-11 or 6-10, it would be be really hard not to pin the lack of success on the QB position, which would then, in turn, possibly look like it had a worthy player at now.

I'm not saying he should, but rather if it played out like that, he could.

1. I know, I was just curious on the number.
2. He's had 4 consecutive top 10 picks to build this team. Even if those picks weren't his fault or acquired under him, he's had those picks. I think it is fair to hold him responsible for not building a competitive team after having a shot at elite talent. Trading up for one of those picks makes him even more accountable imo.
3. Record wise, yea you're right, but personally, I feel like the team has declined every year. My argument is weaker though._________________
Thank you daboyle250 for the sig.

I really do wish there was a way to keep Gene Smith on, but move him back to a scouting position. He has talent in that area. But it's just not realistic. Too many egos involved.

But keeping Mularkey wouldn't offend me at all. He's been a lot less frustrating than Del Rio, and the last couple weeks, i've seen some actually positive signs from him. I have the odd gripe about things he's done...but that's pretty much true of any coach.

My big worry though, is that he may not be the sort of coach to truly develop a young, raw QB. Whether or not Henne can hold the fort for a while...at some point, we're going to need to develop a true starting QB for the future. Mularkey is currently 0/1 here on doing so with a shaky track record prior to that. Some ups and downs. But it's hard to assign full blame on the Gabbert thing at this point. Is it that Mularkey can't develop raw QBs? Or is it that Gabbert just wasn't 'develop-able'? I mean, you can't turn just anyone into a franchise QB.

And since we're on the subject of Walterfootball. According to them, we will be able to draft Jarvis Jones in the first round, then get Tyler Wilson in the second. Something tells me that isn't going to happen at all. _________________
Live like you're down 3-1